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| Tony Stewart and members of the Joe Gibbs Racing team
celebrate completion of a new ‘Racing to Play’ playground at the Salvation
Army of Las Vegas. | Gentlemen, start your…playgrounds? That’s right! The Home Depot,
Joe Gibbs Racing, and KaBOOM! kicked off the second year of the Racing to Play
program on March 9 by building a great new playground at the Salvation Army in
Las Vegas. Under bright sunny skies, more than 150 associates from ten
local The Home Depot stores joined members of the Las Vegas community, crew
members from Joe Gibbs Racing teams and special guest Tony Stewart to build a
racing-themed playground in just one day!
The day began at 8:30
with an energetic kick off that sent volunteers to their teams excited and ready
for a hard day’s work. Within hours a great new racing themed playground
was taking shape. That’s not all, though! Volunteers also
constructed new picnic tables, benches, shade structures and painted a wall
mural (designed by a local The Home Depot associate) – making it a complete
playspace transformation. The children also participated in activities
during the day -- painting tiles, planting flowers and building #20 replica
cars. Click here to see a photo gallery from the day!
The
day concluded with a 'board-cutting' ceremony in lieu of a traditional
ribbon-cutting ceremony. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and representatives
from Senator Harry Reid's, Senator John Ensign's and Congressman Jim Gibbons'
offices joined Tony Stewart and eight of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates to
dedicate the playground. The loudest ovation was saved for Stewart, who
thanked the volunteers for their hard work and congratulated them for making
such a positive difference in the lives of children in Las Vegas. As
Jerold Shires, the #20 team's tire specialist, cut the board, the first 2006
Racing to Play build drew to a close.
A partnership between
The Home Depot, Joe Gibbs Racing, and KaBOOM!. Racing to Play is an initiative
designed to make a lasting, positive impression in the lives of children who
live in NASCAR race communities. Now in its second year, the program will
build nine more racing-themed KaBOOM! playgrounds in 2006 in the following
markets: Fort Worth; Washington D.C.; Charlotte; San Francisco; Loudon, NH;
Watkins Glen, NY; Dover, DE; Martinsville, VA; and Miami. In 2005, more
than 2,300 volunteers donated over 16,000 hours of service to build 10 Racing to
Play playgrounds impacting the lives of more than 6,660 children in race markets
across the country.
Racing to Play is part of The Home Depot’s $25 million commitment to KaBOOM!
to create and refurbish 1,000 playspaces in 1,000 days. The Home Depot provides
financial support, materials and numerous volunteers as part of its ongoing
commitment to give back to the communities its stores serve. By the end of 2006,
The Home Depot and KaBOOM! will have built more than 500 new places for children
to play across North America.
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